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To develop and recommend to the ICANN Board a long term, overall policy for the introduction and delegation of internationalised country code top level domains (IDN ccTLDs), ICANN's Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) initiated a policy development process (ccPDP) [PDF, 45K].
On 7 April 2009, the ccNSO Council officially started a ccPDP by accepting an Issues Report recommending ccNSO action, and by approving a resolution to:
- Initiate the IDN country code Policy Development Process;
- Appoint working groups as suggested in the Issues Report; and
- Approve the proposed PDP Time Line.
As a first step in the IDN ccPDP, a working group will be established to develop proposed recommendations on an overall policy on the introduction and delegation of IDN ccTLDs. These draft recommendations will be posted for public discussion and consultation. This working group will be broad based, involving representatives from multiple ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.
Background
The IDN ccPDP was initiated to develop the policy for the introduction of IDN ccTLDs and identify changes needed to Article IX, if any, in connection with such a policy. Initially, the PDP will address (in the context of developing an overall policy) issues previously raised by a ccNSO and GAC Joint IDN Working Group, as requested by the ICANN Board in November 2007.
Since the development of an overall policy and its implementation may take between 3-7 years, the IDN ccTLD Fast Track process was initiated for the timely and efficient ("fast track") introduction of a limited number of non-contentious IDN ccTLDs while an overall, long-term IDN ccTLD policy is being developed.
One of the most significant innovations for the Internet since its inception will be the introduction of top level Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs). These will offer many new opportunities and benefits for Internet users around the world by allowing them to establish and use domains in their native languages and scripts.
Additional information can be found at: http://ccnso.icann.org/ and http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/.